Great War
The Great War, known locally as the Gretian-Kordynian War '''or the '''Gretian-Lirrachan War was a massive conflict that started with the Battle of the Western Seas. It lasted 1 year, 8 months, and 27 days in the New World and 3 years and 3 months in the Old World. A secondary war between the Gretian Empire, the Republic of Acren, and the People's Democratic Republic of Pandora lead straight into the Second Great War. War Beginnings The War is credited to have been started by the Battle of Iksis, which resulted in the destruction of that city by the Kordynians. The Gretians responded to the devastating attack on their protectorate with the Battle of the Western Seas, before Parliament voted overwhelmingly to authorize a war against Kordowyn and her subjects and allies. The period between the Declaration of War and the arrival of Gretian forces in Ostindien is known as the 'Great Alarm. ' In the Old World, the Lirrachan Republic refused to support the war after the Empress's Father, Emperor Edward I, stiffed the Republic on promised land from the Pandrosi Wars. As supplies began to run out, an unauthorized raid was committed by the Gretian fleet with her flagship, HMIV Empress Helena, to try and seize Bannean, which failed. In The New World By October, the Gretians had captured Ostindien and Endiolaudum, while waiting for the bulk of their forces to arrive, which they did on November the 11th, in the opening major battle, the Battle of New Hybris. Shortly after, Templari'i forces retook Ostindien by land. On November 19th, Gretian Forces sent an ultimatum demanding the surrendur of the Kolanski Government. On November 23rd, this was accepted, and Gretian forces entered Kolangrad soon after. Baerett Stinnett was made occupational governor. On December 14th 242, The Gretian Navy attacked Haven, before being attacked by an illegally constructed Kygonese Armada. Despite initial concerns, the Gretians obliterated the fleet after sustaining only four losses due to Templari'i Mines. The war stalled during the worst parts of winter until a riot occured in Kolangrad, temporarily ousting the Gretians from the city. They returned in full force in early March, and eventually retook the city, destroying a large portion of it. The Gretian Navy breached the Dire Straits in mid March, and the Tyretian Navy began harrassing Allied Forces in the Sea of Conquerors and Saint Black's Bay. After the Invasion of Cúlchríocha, the Gretian forces gained a base of operations with which to launch the War in Garman, and killed High King Marcas De Róiste I. The momentum wouldn't last however, and the Siege of Fearna resulted in a massive military failure when the Imperial Navy of Kordowyn employed Swarm Warfare to defeat the enemy fleet, which fled for safer waters. The battle is considered the turning point of the war, with the Gretian Navy unable to breach the Sea of the Conquerors In May of 243, [[HMIV Renton|HMIV Renton]] ran aground north of Novac, and was raided for supplies while a majority of the Gretian sailors were off trying to collect supplies. Stuck in enemy territory, without food or supplies, they gradually became unstable, resulting in the November Terrors which dealt massive infrastructural damage to the Republic of Novac. On November 4th, the Novacians and Garmanese found a rogue attack element of the Gretian fleet near the coast of Novac and County Pendry, but were too late to prevent the landing of a large Gretian-Sidonian army which began marching towards the closest settlement they could find. The Garmanese pursued HMIV Thunderchild and destroyed it, at the cost of their own flagship, the Thunder Child. On 11/22/243 The Terrors culimated with the Battle of Langston, which saw the reinforcements who had arrived mid month from Fearna square off against the Gretian army, securing a victory after reinforcements from Kordowyn broke the Gretian lines from behind. The source of the Terrors was found to be a group of survivors from the Renton, who had lost their sanity from months of sickness and hunger. With the war firmly over in the east after the withdrawal of Gretian vessels back to the west, plans began being made to retake the western states. Acting on their own accord, the Hybretians and Templari'i launched a massive joint-operation known as the December Offensive. Alongside the Kygonese army in Daelin's command, and Kolanski volunteers, the massive army evacuated Kolangrad and destroyed the food supplies in Kolangrad and New Hybris, before retreating to Dalovsk until spring, in an effort to starve out the Gretians. Gretian attempts to find food sources failed, and Admiral Leslie Shawnasee began petitioning the government to allow him to withdraw. When his requests went unanswered, he evacuated 75% of all Gretian forces in the west to New Cae, remaining behind with a small occupational force and the HMIV Empress Elizabeth. As a result, the Allied Forces launched a massive attack on the enemy on the Ides of March in the Third Battle of New Hybris, which destroyed the Elizabeth and resulted in the sinking of five vessels and the capture of four, with the rest of the Gretian fleet leaving for New Cae. Most of the vessels were intercepted by the Republic of Lirrach, it is unknown how many survived or what the fate of the fleet is. Congress of Dirirabwyn The Dirirabwyn Entire invited the warring parties to talks at their capital, which all sides agreed to. The talks resulted in the Treaty of Dirirabwyn, which ended the war between Gretia and Kordowyn, however peace talks failed between Gretian and Lirrach, and no treaty has been negotiated with the Templari'i Republic. In the Old World The Gretian 8th Fleet struck Bannean on July 2nd, 1287 (243) and attempted to seize the city, but were driven off by the Lirrachan navy and the coastal defenses. Gretian strikes on Estaria and New Cae were similarly defeated, and the Lirrachans made it punishable by asset seizure for companies to sell arms to the Gretian Empire, resulting in a massive munitions shortage in the Empire. Lirrach through support at the Kordynians and safely escorted a convoy of Solitudeans to Garman along with guns, munitions, and supplies that proved vital to the Siege of Fearna. The details of the war in the old world are spotty, with contradicting rumors of Lirrachan attacks on The Seolines, and a Gretian naval blockade of New Cae, but it is known that the war is considered to be stalled due to the Gretian failures in the war in the New World. By the time of the Third Battle of New Hybris Lirrachan forces had slipped past Helios and blockaded the Ikisian and Diribwese Seas, attempting to prevent reinforcements from reaching the New World, and inadvertently, preventing retreating forces to return home without surrendering most of their supplies. The Lirrachan Blockades embarrassment of the retreating forces after the December Offensive and continual losses lead Parliament to support the end of the war in Kordowyn, as the Navy was beginning to be stretched too thin. The Kingdom of Garman attempted to force the Tyretians to recognize an independent Solitude, which was shot down at negotiations, but the Republic of Lirrach began to support Solitudean rights and offered them help in re-establishing their state. As a preemptive move, Tyretian forces flooded into Solitude proper. After months of intense back and forth fighting, Solitude was recaptured by the Tyretians for the eleventh and final time, but at a cost; there was not much of a city left to take. Following the victory, Lord Oliver Clarke of the Republic of Acren in Gretian Occupied Pandora, tried to get the support of the Republic in an attempt to dislodge the Empire and re-establish an independent Acren. The message was intercepted, and the Gretians moved a fleet to begin an attack on the Acrenians. [[HMIV Empress Epalina|HMIV Empress Epalina]] was put in charge of the invasion, one of the now two Empress Class dreadnaughts in service following the Third Battle of New Hybris. At the same time, a blockade was put in place around Lirrach, under command of Alerax Dondarron. On March 4th, three days after the begining of the Invasion of Acren, an attempt to kill President Taegren was made. While the attacker, a Seolinian worker stranded in Bannean due to the war, failed to kill the President, he did kill the First Lady, leading to a huge national uproar and rage at the Empire. Renewed ferocity lead to the collapse of the blockade, and fighting intensified in all theaters, including the Iksisian Gulf. The Invasion of Acren stalemated as the People's Democratic Republic of Pandora 'intervened' to help Acren, attempting to reseize the territory. With the Imperial Navy unable to easily land troops due to Lirrachan attacks, the Acrenains inability to re-take their coastal settlements at risk of letting the Pandrosi gain ground, and the Lirrachans unwillingness to intervene on land, there was a period of moderate to low casualties as "Dondarron's Deadlock" settled in. Most of the fighting began to move away from Lirrachan and Tyretian waters into Gretian and Imperian waters. The Battle of the Seolines was a decisivie attack in October that broke the deadlock, and swung the war in a new direction, Gretia on the defensive. The Liberal Unionist Party, vowing to try and bring peace and end to soaring prices for consumer goods brought on by the war, won 203 of the 236 seats in Parliament, and the Templari'i State Visit to Gretia officially ended the Gretians war with all powers in the New World. After continuous losses, the Gretian fleet rallied and struck the Lirrachan fleet at harbor in Middan. With both sides exhausted and the economies of both nations collapsing due to lack of trade, Lirrach and Gretia agreed to settle a peace treaty at Dirirabwyn. On July 2nd, both the Parliament of the Gretian Empire and the Congress of Deputies approved the treaty, already signed by Empress Evelyn and President Taegren in the same room in Dirirabwyn. Sidonia and Tyris agreed to the treaty seperatly on July 4th and 19th respectively. While the war was primarily over following the July Concorde, the Revolution in Acren dragged on until the Pandrosi People's Republic escalated the stalling war by murdering the entire Gretian Government in the Disaster of '92.